


Don't you worry, child

by Olivka_96



Category: GreedFall (Video Game)
Genre: Bad Parenting, Constantin and Prince D'Orsay are mentioned, De Sardet is a Good Dad, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, Fluff, Gen, I Can't Write Angst, Is it obvious I can't tag?, M/M, Vasco is a Good Husband but a Bad Liar, Yeah they have a daughter now, but he worries
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-12-10
Updated: 2020-12-10
Packaged: 2021-03-09 18:28:32
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,633
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27990774
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Olivka_96/pseuds/Olivka_96
Summary: De Sardet's daughter goes missing, but nobody seems too worried. Discussion on parenting.
Relationships: De Sardet/Vasco (GreedFall)
Comments: 3
Kudos: 9





	Don't you worry, child

**Author's Note:**

> So, the scene happens sometime in the future, all of the characters are aged-up. De Sardet's name in this is Elias, but it's mentioned only once. They have a daughter in this, but she is not the main focus. There are some heavy topics mentioned, but nothing explicit.

De Sardet had been pacing for nearly twenty minutes. He tried to deny it however, when Vasco pointed to the fact several times. It was honestly adorable. De Sardet was never one for frenzy, especially over something trivial. Vasco could count on one hand the number of times he saw his Tempest well and truly distressed. He didn't understand the cause for concern this time though. 

«Really. You have to slow down at some point my Tempest. Constance will be fine, I am sure.» 

Vasco was still watching De Sardet, while perched comfortably on the corner of his writing desk and trying to fight an amused smile. 

«She missed her lessons with sir De Courcillon and nobody has seen her for almost two hours! What if she got into trouble?»

«You're speaking from personal experience?»

De Sardet gave him a very unimpressed, withering glare. Vasco would have been appropriately intimidated if didn't find this so endearing. He grinned back openly, while De Sardet rolled his eyes.

«Exactly. Gods know me and Constantin gave my mother and Kurt enough of reasons to lose hair over.»

De Sardet paused for a moment, clearly reminiscing about the good old days with a small private smile. It was still a little sad, but not painful anymore. Constantin used to drag De Sardet into various kinds of trouble; 'adventures' as he called it; De Sardet usually shared the blame, when recounting those stories, but if Kurt's colorful commentary was anything to go by, Constantin was almost always the mastermind. 

«Constance has a good head on her shoulders, if only for the tendency to be a little know-it-all. I wonder who she got that from.» Vasco pointedly ignored another glare and continued «Maybe she just decided to study on her own and fell asleep?»

That excuse felt rather flimsy, Vasco had to admit, but it was a testament to how strung up his Tempest was that he didn't call him out. Maybe it was getting slightly out of hand, but Vasco was sure about one thing.

«You don't have to worry about her, she is just fine, trust me.»

«How can we be sure? No, really? This waiting is killing me. If anything, I should be there, searching for her together with Kurt. Honestly, it won't be the exertion that does me in, it's the anxiety.»

Vasco actually let out an alarmed gasp at that and De Sardet looked immediately apologetic. Good. It was too soon to jest about that in any way, as far as Vasco was concerned. They weren't at the prime of their youth anymore, but De Sardet's heart problems still manifested too soon. He'd barely started his fourth decade. For all of Kurt's complaints that his royal fledglings would give him an early heart attack with their antics, it was de Sardet who collapsed on one of their expeditions last spring, labored breathing and pain in his chest vicious enough for his vision to go black. To say they were scared would be an understatement.

«I'm sorry, love»

De Sardet made his way into Vasco's waiting arms, which immediately wrapped around his waist, pulling him close. Vasco buried his head in De Sardet's silk cravat and focused on his heartbeat. _Thump. Thump. Thump._ They stayed like this, for a few minutes, perfectly still. Warm weight of De Sardet's hand rested on his nape, and Vasco couldn't ignore a sliver of guilt stirring in his gut any longer.

«Constance is safe, my Tempest, she went to the harbor, to admire the new ship, that came in a couple of days ago. The captain is a good friend of mine, and I doubt there is a soul among the Nauts that doesn't know our daughter. No harm would ever come to her there.»

De Sardet's body stiffened in response, Vasco heard his heartbeat quicken. He instinctively tightened his hold on De Sardet's waist.

«…You knew?»

Vasco felt his neck and ears grow hot from embarrassment, but he met De Sardet's gaze nonetheless. He didn't know, how to describe the expression he saw. Shock, confusion, a brief flash of something unreadable and then De Sardet's face closed off completely. He tried to step away, but Vasco didn't let him. De Sardet stayed in his arms, but there was numbness to his figure, that Vasco was immediately alarmed by. 

«Elias…» he tried softly. De Sardet's dark eyes focused on him immediately - thank the high seas – he didn't use his first name often, not for any reason in particular, but it somehow became a habit to save it for the most sacred, serious moments between them. Vasco felt it was one of them.

«She asked you not to tell me, didn't she.»

It wasn't a question. Vasco stayed silent, because De Sardet got straight to the truth. It hurt to see pain flash in De Sardet's eyes, sadness settle in the thin line of his mouth.

Constance turned fourteen in the summer of that year, and only a blind man couldn't see that she was drawn and bound to the ocean. A child saved from a shipwreck, she was claimed by the sea from the earliest childhood. It was almost poetic. They both knew, or at least felt, that this child was destined to become a Naut. De Sardet couldn't deny it, but there was another part of him, that was completely and utterly enamored with Constance from the first glance. Separating them was akin to tearing flesh from flesh.

Taking the child of the sea from the Naut ship was, of course, a taboo that could sever the ties of a nation to the whole guild. But no one could deny that De Sardet had a special status and reputation among Vasco's people. A sea born, a trusted friend of one admiral and a life partner of another. Everyone on the Seahorse already considered him a part of the crew. Eventually, he was allowed to raise the child on land with occasional sea voyages, once she would be able to walk. A strange case of shared custody. There was no illusion however, that if the child ever expressed the desire to become a Naut, she would be taken in without question, and with full commitment to the guild. De Sardet accepted those terms graciously. And when came time to give the girl a name for adoption papers, Constance was an instant choice. No one wondered why.

Now De Sardet stood beside the window once more, deep in thought. Vasco, tempted as he was to give him space, knew better. So he left his seat at the desk and came to stand by De Sardet's side, shoulder to shoulder, waiting.

«Why would she keep it from me?» he said eventually, more to himself than Vasco «I don't want to be the kind of father that makes his child scared to share their true feelings with me.»

And that's what finally made all the pieces click in Vasco's head. He felt cold, and then hot all over, when he saw De Sardet's face. The glassy distant look, that said he was far away and deep in his own head, no doubt drawing comparisons that could never be true, except in his worst nightmares.

«You are not your uncle.» Vasco said it with a firm conviction, and gently guided De Sardet's face with a palm of his hand to look him in the eyes. 

On one of the quiet nights, a true rarity since an infant became a part of their lives, De Sardet shared his biggest fear about being a father. It was tied to seeing Constantin's relationship with the Prince, since De Sardet didn't have any other frame of reference when it came to father figures. _I never want Constance to think she cannot confide in me, whatever it may be._

«You are nothing like him, my Tempest.» Vasco couldn't bear the thought of De Sardet comparing himself to a man like that, if the stories were to be believed. 

However shrewd of a ruler the Prince of the Congregation had proven himself to be, to cause his own child enough of an emotional trauma to last into adulthood made him a terrible father, one De Sardet had no business associating himself with. Vasco held his face in his palms and spoke with soft, calm conviction.

«Constance adores you. She misses you terribly whenever we leave for a voyage without you. Perhaps what scares her is the thought that she would lose you, if she chooses the life of a Naut.»

Vasco could see the moment his words sank in, De Sardet thought them over and then, a clear decision was made, his jaw relaxed and he looked at Vasco with renewed determination.

«That would never happen, whichever life she chooses.» he said, and that was a promise set in stone. 

Vasco's heart was at once filled with hot, excited joy and tender happiness. He kissed De Sarder long and sweet, until they were both breathless and Kurt's disgusted groan came from the direction of the corridor.

«Seriously? All these years later and you still haven't learned to close the damn door!»

De Sardet turned, but ignored the jab completely, in favor of looking directly at his daughter who stood near Kurt and apparently couldn't decide whether she should stifle a laugh or avoid her fathers' gaze. After a short pause De Sardet gave her a warm smile.

«Constance, how about, you and I take a nice stroll in the garden? The weather seems agreeable enough.»

His daughter took it for what it was – an invitation to talk in private – and despite the clear nervousness, his smile seemed to reassure her. They left together, while Kurt stood beside Vasco, by the window.

«No need to worry, then?»

«I believe so.»


End file.
